


unexpected

by siesspi



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 03:27:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4332108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siesspi/pseuds/siesspi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which heinz is a bit more confident than usual and perry is a big useless baby, and a lot of stuff changes but also nothing does. shameless perryshmirtz fluff that's canon timeline compliant</p>
            </blockquote>





	unexpected

Perry didn’t know what had Heinz so jumpy tonight. It wasn’t the choice of venue. They’d been to this restaurant before. They’d been going to this same restaurant pretty much every year, at this same time. It was for nemeversaries, once. They had been done with that for a while, though. Heinz was used to all of this. And it wasn’t particularly crowded tonight…no, it definitely wasn’t their current location that had his companion pulling nervously at the collar of his green button up shirt and giving Perry wide eyed glances. It wasn’t the company, either. Ten years past active nemesisship, Heinz was long over being nervous around Perry when they were out like this. So, what…?  


Heinz was twisting his cloth napkin in his hands now and not looking at Perry at all. Even with his head ducked, Perry could make out that his mouth was moving. He talked to himself like this when he was trying to psych himself up for something. Perry was starting to get nervous, himself. He would have happily stayed at the penthouse if Heinz wasn’t in a good place to go out tonight. He considered reaching a paw over to still his friend’s hands and bring him back before he got himself too worked up, but before he could decide, Heinz was looking up at him like everything was normal. 

“Perry the Platypus! I’ve, ah. I’ve been _thiiinking_ , lately. About you. And me! Us! Us.”

Perry raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah! Us. S _oooo_ , we’ve known each other for a w _h_ ile. You know that. Obviously. You were there! Haha! And I, well, I feel like there’s a lot I haven’t _told_ you.“

Both eyebrows were up and both eyes were wide, now. Perry had no idea where Heinz was going with this.

“Perry the platypus, when I met you, I was m _is_ erable. My attempts at Evil hadn’t been _going_ so well, and I didn’t think I’d ever be bad enough for Monobrow and his cute little agency to notice me! Then you showed up, and I was so excited! Ah. Right. You remember that.”

Perry didn’t bother fighting a weary smile at the memory of the first greeting Heinz had ever given him. Linda had been plenty confused when he got home covered in soot and confetti and smelling like a fish factory. It had always been fun being Heinz’s nemesis. Heinz correctly interpreted the change in expression as an indication that Perry did indeed remember, and continued heading towards whatever point he had.

“Before you, I- I didn’t know what to _do_. Vanessa was in that phase where she hated everything I did, and it’s not like I could hang out with Charlene. I was lonely, Perry the platypus. I was really, _really_ lonely. And then you were coming by every day, and even though I knew it was your job, it was so _nice_ to be able to _count_ on someone, you know? And, well… I was afraid of that.”  


Heinz paused and took a steadying breath.

“I figured it was only a matter of time until you left.”

Perry chattered quietly and put a paw on Heinz’s hand. Heinz gave him a small smile.

“I’m _hardly_ worried about that any _more_ , Perry the platypus. That’s why I’m telling you this.”

Perry was listening intently now. He knew his best friend well enough to know by his tone when something was _very_ important to him.

“I’ve only ever told one person this before. And it-” He broke off and laughed quietly. “It didn’t end in a way I’d have called _ideal_ in the moment I was saying it. But even then, things… they worked out. They did. Soooo, uh…” Another deep, steadying breath, and Heinz rolled his eyes to the ceiling to avoid Perry’s. Another old nervous habit.

“I… Uh. Ah. Oy, this is just as freaky as I remember! Reminds me of the diving board. Remember that scheme, Perry the platypus? That was one of my _favorites_ , actually. That and- what’s that look for? _Oh!_ I was saying something kind of im _por_ tant, wasn’t I?” The whole time he had been talking, Heinz’s already enthusiastic hand gestures had been getting more and more pronounced. Something was really making him nervous tonight. 

Perry had a familiar urge to fondly roll his eyes at the sudden loss of focus, but just laughed behind a paw. Ten years and so little change.

“I love you, Perry.”

Perry stopped laughing. It felt like all the air in his lungs had suddenly rushed out. He was pretty sure his face was red even under teal fur. Not a good look. He was looking Heinz right in the eyes, and he looked more calm that he had all evening. The only giveaway of any apprehension was the napkin, which he was twisting up again. Perry felt an odd surge of pride in the amount of confidence Heinz had gained over the years, and then reminded himself that that was  _not_ the most important topic right now.

 _Well, say something!_ a voice in his head demanded shrilly. Moments later it was met by another that calmly stated that Perry couldn’t talk anyway, and so his silence was hardly offensive. Perry actually didn’t wish he could talk very often, because it seemed like such a hassle. This might have been the third time in his lifetime. He just thought maybe it would be easier to say everything outright than try and communicate it through a shrug and a glare (his usual). Wasn’t it far more simple to wail _I love you too, and I wasn’t even beginning to start hoping that you’d ever feel the exact same way, all things considered. I never cared as long as I could be with you, because you complete me. I’ve loved you for ten fucking years._ Perry was excellent at silent communication, but that was pushing it, even for him. Shit, this was much easier on TV, wasn’t it.

_At least **do** something!_

His brain interpreted “something” to mean try to casually take a sip of water and promptly choke on it. When he got done coughing, which felt like an eternity instead of six seconds, Heinz was _laughing._

“Calm _down_ , Perry the platypus! I’ve never seen you look so _scared_! You should see your eyes. You could have at least _pretended_ to be that frightened a few times back when we were fighting. It would have been polite.”

“Look, I’m not asking you to feel the same way; I hardly _expected_ you to. (Perry cringed inwardly.) I just thought you had a right to _know_. You’re important to me. Nothing has to _change_. So you can start breathing again, if you want.”

Perry took a breath and shot Heinz a _don’t make fun of me_ glare before what he had just said sunk in. There it was again: that mixture of pride, confusion, and mortal terror. Heinz really made a habit of causing that. He used to be afraid of asking Perry to hang out after thwarting him, and now _this_. Not that Perry hadn’t had thought about it. He’d been pretty sure he felt a bit more than loathing for Heinz since the first Peter incident during That Summer. But he’d hardly expected to actually need a _plan_ for this situation. He was not trained for this.

Heinz was watching him patiently, regarding Perry with a small smile. He ran a hand through his grayed hair (Perry remembered with a nervous twinge in his gut that back when it was auburn he always liked how it looked when the sun hit it, and held back a powerful urge to punch himself in the face) and dropped his chin into his left hand, propping his elbows up on the table. Perry watched his fingers twitch a bit and then still. Heinz was clearly trying to hold back his many nervous tics, but Perry could sense he was getting increasingly more uneasy at the lack of a solid response.

He knew how he _wanted_ to respond. He just didn’t know how to go about it. He knew about human romance from exactly three sources: Linda and Lawrence, Candace, and soap operas. Most platypuses generally didn’t have need for it. It would certainly be a highly unusual situation. But most platypuses didn’t know Heinz. 

After some consideration, Perry concluded that he really only knew one way to convey what he had wanted to say for a decade. He just had to trust himself not to pass out. He took a deep breath and ignored his heart skipping every other beat. He had jumped off buildings and survived explosions and fought super-villains. This should _not_ have been the most terrifying thing he'd ever done. Exhaling, he pushed his chair back and hopped off it. Heinz watched apprehensively as Perry came around to his side of the table.

Perry reached out, silently requesting for Heinz to give him his hand, and made an impatient _stay there_ gesture when Heinz looked like he was moving to get up. Looking thoroughly confused, with shades of nervous and suspicious, Heinz obliged and allowed Perry to take his hand in his paw.

Perry didn't even notice that he was now holding his breath. He slowly lowered his eyes as he dropped himself down to one knee, praying his ex-nemesis recognized the human gesture.

There was silence. Perry forced himself to look up.

Heinz was staring at him, wide eyed. A light pink color was spreading across his face.

"P-Perry the platypus, how..."

A strange look crossed his face for a moment, and he started to laugh, much harder than before. It took him a moment to regain enough control to choke out the last word. 

" _Unexpected_."

Perry stared. Heinz broke into laughter again, clearly spurred on by the stunned look on his face. When he finally paused to wipe a tear from his eye and looked down at Perry with an ear to ear grin, Perry smiled back at him, and immediately found himself picked up and pulled into a hug. He wrapped his arms around Heinz’s shoulders and wondered if, now that he was looking back on all of it, it shouldn’t have been a _little_ bit expected.


End file.
